Consumer rights violation: Why we’ll go after Google, other erring brands —FCCPC

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has said it is determined to go the whole hog in prosecuting, and bringing to justice, brands that have continued to trample on the rights of Nigerian consumers.

Speaking at an interactive session with the media in Lagos, recently, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Mr Babatunde Irukera, expressed dismay that some businesses in the country were taking advantage of Nigerian consumers, without providing an avenue for complaints resolution for such consumers.

According to him, the decision of the Commission to up the ante in its fight against consumer rights infractions in the country had started yielding the desired results, as many consumers now find the agency more accessible to lodge their complaints than going to the erring brands.

“One of the saddest things of my work is that the commission, a Federal Government agency, is easier to find,more accessible and more responsive than some private enterprises. I believe businesses must prioritise customer service irrespective of the type of such businesses,” he stated.

Irukera explained that the decision of the commission to go after some money lenders in Lagos, in the past few weeks, was informed by the need to sanitise the nation’s financial space, and stop the continued harassment of consumers.

Besides operating illegally, the FCCPC’s boss added that the business and operational models  of those lenders violated the rights of their consumers.

He also berated some social media platforms, such as Google and Apple, for allowing their platforms to be used for the purpose of trampling on the rights of the Nigerian consumers by such money lenders.

“We issued an order against Google and Apple to take some of the applications being used by these illegal money lenders. Unfortunately, we can’t even find them. We got a letter from Google recently written by a very senior lawyer. The letter did not indicate any address, e-mail, or even office address.

“I believe this is the height of irresponsibility on the part of Google. But the commission is undeterred. We are going to prosecute them because they cannot continue to allow their platforms to be used to violate the rights of Nigerians,” he stated.

Irukera, however, argued that the ‘war’ against consumer rights infractions could only be won with the support of the media since that would give the commission the ‘regulatory tool’ to do more.

The FCCPC’s boss argued that though the Nigerian consumers are gradually becoming aware of their rights, and are ready to fight for them, as evident in the volume of complaints received by the agency on a daily basis, there is still much to be done on sensitisation.

According to him, the agency had in the past few years been able to bring some business owners taking advantage of their consumers to book.

“We are showing up everywhere to let people know that we are serious about our intention to clean up the space, and what we are doing is to go after the big guys so that the smaller ones will know we are serious,” he stated.

Irukera however, assured of the agency’s commitment to also protecting the interests of brands in the country, noting that consumerism would only thrive when such brands are in business.